Progress Towards Cell-Based Burn Wound Treatments

Abstract

Cell therapy as part of the concept of regenerative medicine represents an upcoming platform technology. Although cultured epidermal cells have been used in burn treatment for decades, new developments have renewed the interest in this type of treatment. Whereas early results were hampered by long culture times in order to produce confluent sheets of keratinocytes, undifferentiated proliferating cells can nowadays be applied on burns with different application techniques. The application of cells on carriers has improved early as well as long-term results in experimental settings. The results of several commercially available epidermal substitutes for burn wound treatment are reviewed in this article. These data clearly demonstrate a lack of randomized comparative trials and application of measurable outcome parameters. Experimental research in culture systems and animal models has demonstrated new developments and proof of concepts of further improvements in epidermal coverage. These include combinations of epidermal cells and mesenchymal stem cells, and the guidance of both material and cell interactions towards regeneration of skin appendages as well as vascular and nerve structures.

Keywords::

• burns
• cell therapy
• keratinocyte transplantation
• mesenchymal stem cell
• scar
• skin substitutes
• tissue engineering
• wound healing

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by the Dutch Burns Foundation project 07.116 and by the European Commission (FP7-HEALTH-2011-1, Grant Agreement no. 279024), project EuroSkinGraft. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Dutch Burns Foundation project 07.116 and by the European Commission (FP7-HEALTH-2011-1, Grant Agreement no. 279024), project EuroSkinGraft. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.